rays passing through a--well, hm-mm, there's an electric
impulse, see--I guess it's that that sends out--" He stopped
altogether. "Well golly Moses, Mr. Wicker," he ended lamely, "it seems
to be pretty complicated to go into."

Mr. Wicker smiled, a wide engaging smile showing strong white teeth.

"It is," he agreed warmly, his eyes twinkling, "Is it not? Very
complicated. You probably would not be able to describe to me the
details of how the radio or long-distance telephone work either, would
you, young man?"

Chris had to grin back when he saw that Mr. Wicker was not laughing at
him, but rather at the complexity of such mechanical things.

"No, sir, I guess not. We're just glad to be able to use them, I
expect."

"Ah!" said Mr. Wicker in a tone of immense satisfaction, "Quite so.
You are just glad to be able to use and enjoy them. Well, then, my
boy, the things I have just shown you, and what I am about to show
you now, are parts of knowledge which are yet to be discovered and
learned, in a time beyond your own. And the ability to move _within_
Time--_within Time_," Mr. Wicker stressed, leaning forward toward
Chris, "that faculty is also still in the future. In the meantime it
remains a rare gift."

Mr. Wicker put out a lean strong hand and tapped Chris's knee.

[Illustration]

"You have it, Christopher. You were born with the ability to move
backward into time that has passed. Whether or not you will ever
master the gift of moving into the future, that, of course"--Mr.
Wicker shrugged--"is impossible to tell. You may. But for my purposes,
that you have been able to return this far is enough." He looked
searchingly at Chris. "Have you understood what I have been saying up
to now?" he asked.

"I think so, sir," Chris answered slowly.

"This ability to move back and forth in Time," Mr. Wicker continued,
"is no more farfetched than the ability to send colored images and
sound across the land into your own house, where you can see and hear
them. It is something which, so far, and I mean, of course, in your
time, has not yet been discovered. But it will be," mused Mr. Wicker
thoughtfully, pulling at his underlip with thumb and forefinger. "Yes,
it will be." He looked across at Chris as if returning from a great
distance. "But until it has been it appears fantastic, does it not?"

"It certainly does!" Chris replied with fervor. "If it weren't
happening to me I wouldn't believe it!"

"No," nodded Mr. Wicker,